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Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel: Via Regia

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The Via regia, ‘Royal Way’, is a mirror for princes by Smaragdus, abbot of Saint-Mihiel in Lorraine (d. c. 826), addressed to a Carolingian ruler, probably Louis the Pious while he was king of Aquitaine. The text opens with a note by its seventeenth-century editor Luc d’Achery, arguing that the author is not Smaragdus of Aniane or a later Smaragdus of Lüneburg but the abbot of Saint-Mihiel, citing the judgement of Lucas Holstenius and the manuscript of Queen Christina of Sweden, which had lost its first leaf with the dedication. A dedicatory letter follows, and then the book itself in thirty-two short chapters, each urging a virtue on the king.

The chapters treat the love and fear of God, wisdom, prudence, justice, mercy, humility, patience, chastity and the duties of a ruler toward the poor and the Church, built from scriptural and patristic quotations; the middle passage urges generosity to the poor as the condition of receiving God’s mercy. The Via regia is one of the earliest Carolingian mirrors for princes and shaped the moral ideal of kingship that later writers such as Jonas of Orléans developed.

About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 102, Parisiis 1851), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.

Latin · Philosophy
Via Regia
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel · Dacherius Humanissimo Lectori · every word parsed
BookDacherius Humanissimo LectoriEpistola nuncupatoriaIncipit Liber
1
Huius operis UIA REGIA inscripti auctor non est Smaragdus presbyter et monachus Anianae in Septimania dioecesique Magalonensi, qui doctrina et sanctitate Ludouici Pii imperatoris tempestate florebat; neque idem Smaragdus Luneburgensis monasterii in Saxonia abbas, quandoquidem monasterium istud condidit Hermannus Saxoniae dux sub anno 972, sed Smaragdus abbas sancti Michaelis (uulgo Saint–Mihiel ) in dioecesi Uirdunensi. Sententiam hanc approbat doctissimus Lucas Holstenius, qui nuper in Urbe orbem litterarium ueluti sidus splendidissimum illustrabat.
« In Codice manuscripto » ait ille, « serenissimae reginae [Sueciae] unde hoc exemplar accurate descriptum est, deficit primum folium, quo auctoris praefatio continebatur ad Ludouicum Pium, ut puto, sub quo diem extremum eum obiisse nos docet epitaphium a Sammarthanis fratribus editum. Ut Smaragdo hoc opus tribuam facit epistola eidem in calce subiuncta Caroli imperatoris ad Leonem III papam, quam idem Smaragdus edidisse scribitur. Unde apparet hunc Smaragdum auctorem esse narrationis de collatione habita Romae in secretario basilicae Uaticanae inter missos Caroli Magnii et Leonem papam, quam Iac. Sirmondus tom. II Concil. Gall., pag. 256, edidit; cum testimonia illa quorum narratio principio meminit, epistola Caroli contineantur. Praeterea ex styli et tractandi modo perspicue apparet librum, qui DIADEMA MONACHORUM appellatur, huius Smaragdi fetum esse: cuius auctorem alii Smaragdum sancti Michaelis abbatem in Saxonia manifesto errore faciunt. Nam liber serenissimae reginae ante Saxonicorum imperatorum tempora scriptus est, qui monasterium Luneburgense construxerunt. Neque enim dubitari potest quin utrumque unius eiusdem auctoris opus sit, cum multa ex uno in alterum ad uerbum transcripta legantur, ut uidere est in Diademate Monachorum, quod eadem capitum serie praetexitur, et iisdem, ut dixi uerbis, utrique tamen uitae generi diuersa ratione accommodatis: conferas tantum capita 6, 7, 8 et 9, et res ad oculum patebit. »
Enimuero ea quae acta sunt Romae de Symbolo fidei inter Leonem papam et missos Caroli Magni, se non collegisse modo, sed et ipsis interfuisse non obscure innuit Smaragdus initio narrationis, ubi haec uerba: « His dictis noui quod nonnulla colloquendo potius quam disputando praecesserant, quorum series sensuum seu uerborum, nisi tantum quod inde fuit, non satis memoriae occurrit, etc. In quantum recordari ualeo, iste fuit cursus sensuum, et summa conclusio nouissimarum definitionum, » etc. Namque in Urbem secum adduxerant Smaragdum legati illi, Iesse episcopus Ambianensis et Adalardus Corbeiae abbas, utpote uirum in rebus ecclesiasticis apprime uersatum, ut eius eruditio sibi esset subsidio.
Porro legenti patebit, Smaragdum, cum regi dicauit suum opus, aetate iam prouectum fuisse. Et licet in hoc opere nullos sanctos Patres laudet nominatim, continuo tamen e placitis eorum collectos quasi flores spargit, quemadmodum doctus quisque poterit diiudicare. Denique quantum e Smaragdi monitionibus profecerit Ludouicus, qui agnomen Pii sortitus est, in regendo tum seipso, tum etiam imperio patefaciunt ipsius egregii mores et acta illustria.
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Text: Perseus Digital Library, licensed CC BY-SA. Dictionary: Lewis & Short (Perseus, CC BY-SA). Morphology: LatinCy — machine parsing, corrected against the AGDT & PROIEL treebanks and Morpheus.
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